What it's about: In 1957, mentally impaired teenager Jesse Daniels was falsely accused of raping a prominent woman in Okahumpka, Florida. His commitment to a mental hospital without a trial spawned a 20-year investigation into police corruption, privilege, and racism.

About the author: Gilbert King is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove, which recounts Thurgood Marshall's 1951 civil rights case about the wrongful accusations of rape leveraged against four black men.

What it is: a balanced and insightful exploration of the history, culture, politics, and stereotypes of Texas and its people.

About the author: Longtime Texas resident Lawrence Wright won the Pulitzer Prize for The Looming Tower, a history of pre-9/11 al-Qaeda.

Want a taste? "There's an element of performance involved with being 'Texan.' The boots, the pickup trucks, the guns, the attitude -- they're all part of the stereotype, but they're also a masquerade."

What it's about: This sweeping colonial history links the Boston smallpox epidemic of 1721 to the democratization of the press, exploring the impact of these fevers -- medical and political -- on a nascent America.

Why you might like it: Ambitious yet accessible, The Fever of 1721 features anecdotes about famous players in early American history, including a teenage Benjamin Franklin.

What it's about: Written with verve by a self-described "disease detective," this enthralling medical history turns an investigative eye toward the causes of infectious disease outbreaks -- whether naturally occurring or engineered as bioterrorism -- and what we can do to prevent their return.

Read it for: a vivid, page-turning narrative palatable to both science enthusiasts and general readers.

What it is: a lively 300-year chronicle of the iconic New York City hospital, from its origins as a pest house for yellow fever and cholera patients to its enduring status as a refuge for the marginalized.

Notable patients: Sylvia Plath, Charlie Parker, Mark David Chapman.

Did you know? Bellevue is the oldest public hospital in the United States and admits over 600,000 patients annually.

What it's about: The development of the first polio, rubella, and rabies vaccines in the 1960s and '70s paved the way for political scheming, ethical quandaries, and destructive rivalries, as scientists on the forefront of discovery sought to make newer, better vaccines -- often at the expense of their human test subjects.

For fans of: Readers drawn to surveys of medical ethics like Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks will find much to ponder here.